After more than eight years of using the derby name Vivi Section, I have decided to skate under my own name. Though very few people ever actually got my derby name without an explanation, I no longer wish to be associated with or make light of a word for a violent act. Vivisection is a practice that causes suffering to living beings, including humans during times of war.
In the early days of the roller derby revival there was something that felt radical about choosing a name and identity that evoked violence, toughness and the like. Even though that didn’t really feel like me, I bought into that idea. It seemed like turning societal expectations about women upside down and that spoke to my version of feminism at the time. I liked names that were pun-ny and I wanted something that could be shortened into a “regular” first name. I didn’t want to be called “Murder” or “Brawl”
Over time, what initially felt like a radical reclaiming has evolved for me. It now feels hollow and meaningless rather than edgy and fierce. I am at heart a peaceful person. I’m also tired of the blank stares I get when I explain vivisection — it seems especially crass to invoke such horror by way of trying to show how “clever” I am in having come up with such an obscure pun that sounds something like a “real” name. To give fair credit, my ex came up with the name and I adopted it after names that I liked